


knowing your history

by darlingargents



Series: Ladies Bingo 2017/2018 [13]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Community: ladiesbingo, Gen, Introspection, Jedi, Jedi Leia Organa, Jedi Training, Podfic Available, The Force, Twinswap, i'm still getting a feel for this verse, idk what ahsoka is but she's. not quite a jedi. but something.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-07 18:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14086596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingargents/pseuds/darlingargents
Summary: It's not exactly easy to train a Jedi when your own Jedi training was never completed. And you're not even a Jedi yourself any longer. And when you're ever-so-slightly worried about this teenage Force-sensitive with too much anger and not enough training for the massive, massive power inside her.





	knowing your history

**Author's Note:**

> Ladies Bingo fill for **Telepathy**. And this is actually my first line completed! I'm going to fill out as many squares as I can before I submit anything, though.
> 
> Also. Apparently this is a series now (though this still works as a standalone). I don't really know where I'll be able to go with it, but I'm definitely going to try and do more, because this AU really intrigues me.

“You’re saying that the Jedi could read minds.”

Ahsoka sighed, and shifted a little on her meditation mat. The years had improved her patience, but she was anything but a natural teacher. “Not quite. More like… surface emotions. Glancing thoughts. They said that true mind-reading is possible, but that only users of the Dark side of the Force could ever do it.”

“Because they’re more powerful?” Leia’s face only betrayed innocent curiosity.

“That’s debatable,” Ahsoka said. “They certainly have powers that the Jedi could only dream of. No one is really sure exactly why, but it’s believed by many that by delving so deeply into the Dark side, you unlock more raw power, and infatuated by the darkness, you have fewer qualms about using these powers against your fellow beings.” Ahsoka paused, considering. She had planned for today to be an overview of various Jedi techniques and abilities — a heavily abbreviated version of about a year of training as a youngling at the Temple — but she supposed it didn’t hurt to delve into some history and Force theory as well. “And it’s been theorized that the Force balances it out and the darkness eventually overwhelms and destroyed them somehow. There was certainly a strong historical trend of that, from our records — not that we had many, about the Sith. Jedi might not access the same raw power, but we also could live for our entire natural lifespans and often longer. Sith usually died young and violently, often murdered by their master or apprentice, or suffered some injury that caused their bodies to fall apart and limited their abilities in that way. Of course, back in the days before the rule of two, when there were a lot more Sith running around, they say that some Jedi had powers we could only dream of today as well. And there were stranger, wilder Sith powers rumoured as well. But that was a different time.”

Leia nodded, looking thoughtful. Her hands, resting on her knees, were loose and relaxed, but her fingers were twitching a little. Ahsoka had told her not to move except for her head during this lesson, as meditation practice. She had been mostly successful so far. More than Ahsoka would’ve expected from her progress so far, though if Yoda or any other master could’ve seen her, they would have cried in despair.

Leia Skywalker was thirteen years old, had been training as a Jedi for a little less than a year, and still couldn’t hold a meditative pose for longer than an hour.

This was why the Jedi started early, Ahsoka knew. She had far been too young to remember her own first meditation sessions. By the time she was seven or eight, she could spend half a day in meditation if needed. By the time she left the Order, she hadn’t quite gotten to the level she should have — Anakin had always been more inclined towards action than sitting still, and the war had only made it easily to slack on the more contemplative Force skills — but she could still do it for at least a day, probably a bit longer.

It was said that Yoda could meditate for a week straight without issue. Ahsoka slightly doubted that, but no matter.

“Can you show me the Jedi mindreading?” Leia asked. “How do you do it?”

“Alright,” said Ahsoka, pushing down the trickle of unease she felt. “Close your eyes, and reach out. Feel. Find someone nearby — not me, it doesn’t work the same on Force-sensitives.”

They were parked in a spaceport on a small, unimportant planet — with minimal Imperial presence — and surrounded by beings; Leia wouldn’t have trouble locating a target. She closed her eyes, and Ahsoka could feel it as her consciousness expanded around them.

“I found someone,” Leia said, almost reverently. She still seemed in awe of the Force, when she used it for anything more complicated than lifting and throwing something. She’d spent her whole lifetime without the training to use it, meaning it had been just out of reach until she’d come to Ahsoka. Now that she could do these things, everything from when she’d been growing up made sense to her — at least, that’s what she’d told Ahsoka — and it still seemed almost too good to be true.

“You already know how to sense someone,” Ahsoka said, keeping her voice quiet so as not to break Leia’s trance. “You can sense their energy. Now focus on it. Look _in_. What do you see?”

Leia’s fingers twitched and tightened on her knees. “She’s — it’s a woman — she’s a Twi’lek. Sad, worried — hurting, a little, her neck is sore — wondering where her friend is — scared? Frightened. She doesn’t have enough, her credits are running out—” Leia gasped and her eyes flew open. “ _Ouch_.”

She pressed her hand to her temple. Ahsoka didn’t chastise her for breaking form; she assumed it was a splitting headache brought on by delving into a new ability and overexerting the mental muscles. It would pass fairly quickly. “Do you understand now?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yes.” She dropped her hand, then seemed to realize that she’d moved it in the first place, and grimaced. “Sorry, ‘Soka.”

“It’s fine,” Ahsoka said. “It’s probably time for a break, anyway.”

Leia stood, stretching her arms above her head and yawning before walking out of the ship’s training room, the door sliding shut behind her. Ahsoka pressed her fingers to her forehead, pushing down her concern.

She had no reason to worry about Leia falling into darkness, not really, but… she was training Leia without even the full training as Jedi, and alone, without anyone to help her. She was the last of the Jedi, and she wasn’t even really a Jedi any longer.

The Jedi were gone. The Force was at least tinged with the taint of darkness everywhere in the galaxy. Ahsoka was alone and the responsibility for keeping her people’s legacy rested on her shoulders alone.

No, she wasn’t afraid. But she was concerned. Leia had a lot of anger in her. Anger at the Empire for taking her parents, and anger at everything else, it almost seemed.

Ahsoka would control it. She would teach Leia, and it would be okay.

Because it had to be. Ahsoka had no choice.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] knowing your history](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15320517) by [darlingargents](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingargents/pseuds/darlingargents), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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